Method and apparatus for cleaning railroad ballast



Feb. 12 1. 1924. 1,483,674.

A. N. c. OWEN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RAILROAD BALLAST Fild June 10, 1921 4 Shets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR} ms ATTORNEY,

Feb. 12 1924. 1,483,674

Y- N. c. OWEN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RAILROAD BALLAST Filed June 10, 1921- 4 Sheets-Shoat a ms ATTOR/VH Feb. 12 1 924. 1,483,674

. N. c, OWEN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RAILROAD BALLAST Filed June 10. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet a ms Arm/M155 Feb. 12 1924. 1,483,6'i4

N. c. OWEN METHOD AND AP RATus FOR CLEANING RAILROAD BALLAST nnrrsn Patented Feb. 12; 13. 224.

- insane NEWTON C OWEN, OF WILKES-BARBIE PENNSYLVANIA, ASEaICiIil01B, TO OWEN- PENN- SYLVANIA .GOEPORATION, OF WILKES-BARRE, TRENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF ?ENNSYLVA1\T IA.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RAILROAD BALLAEE.

Application filed June 10,

to'provide an improved method for removing, separating and cleaning the ballast of a railroad bed; to provide an improved apparatus for performing the steps of this improved method; and to provide other improvements as will appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. l is a side elevea-tion of ballast removing and cleaning machine constructed in accordance with this invention; Fig. 2 is a top. plan view of the same; Figs. 3, a and 5 are respectively an enlarged top plan view, an enlarged side elevation, and an enlarged. end elevation of a detail of the same; Figs. 6

r and 7 are an enlarged side elevation and an enlarged end eleviation respectively of a portion of the same; and Figs. 8 and 9 are a top plan view and a side elevation respectively of details of the same.

Referring to the drawings one embodiment of the improved apparatus,- forming a part of this invention comprises a vacuum ballast removing and cleaning machine ar ranged upon what is known as a Hat car 10 of any .well known or suitable construelion havinga flat horizontal rigid platform 11 mounted upon four flanged wheels 12 adapted to roll along the rails 13, 13 of a railroad of standard or other gauge. The rails 13 are shown mounted upon the usual transverse ties which are imbedded in the usual road bed 2'1 which includes a ballast of broken stone or rock 22 arranged between the ties. The largest broken stone generally used as ballast for a railroad bed is known as No. a and is composed of pieces, each of which will pass through a circular opening 2-} inches in diameter but will not pass through an opening 1-}; inchesin diameter.

0 This improved apparatusis constructed to remove ballast of various sizes including this largest size known as 4.

Mounted upon and carried by the platform 11 of the fiat car 10 is a vacuum ballast than in ordinary practice.

1921. Serial No. 476,430.

' cleaner comprising an exhauster for creating a suitable vacuum, a motor or source of power 31 for driving the exhauster 30, and a separator 32 communicating with the exhauster for separating the ballast from the dirt, cinders or other foreign matter, and for separating substantially all solid matter, except Cinders, dust and other very fine particles of matter from the air before it enters the exhauster.

v The exhauster 30 is rigidly secured to the platform 11 and may be of any well known or suitableconstruction capable. of producing a suitable vacuum. It has been found in practice that an exhauster that will produce 16 ounces of lift per square inch of inlet will give good results. The exhauster shown comprises an outer casing containing the usual or any suitable fan (not shown) which is rigidly secured to a horizontal rotary shaft 41 extending through one wall of the casing and having its outer end journal-led in a fixed bearing 12. The shaft 41 has a pulley 43 rigidly secured thereto. To insure durability the blades of the fan of the exhauster 30 may be made of some form of particularly hard and tough steel and should be made somewhat thicker For the same purpose the casing 40 of the exhauster might be made of chilled cast iron or other hard n'iaterial. i

The exhauster 30 is provided with an outlet 45 preferably opening upwardly, and with an inlet 16 preferably opening horizontally, which communicates through a pipe 17 with the outlet of a dust collector 48. the inlet of which communicates through a flexible pipe 49 with an upwardly opening outlet 50 provided therefor in the separator 32. The dust collector 18 may be of any well known or suitable construction adapted to separate the dust and all fine particles of foreign matter from the air as it passes through the collector from the flexible pipe a9.

The flexible pipe 49 should be as flexible as possible consistent with the service to which it is subjected. In actualuse it has been found that a standard flexible steel armored or reinforced rubber hose of about 11 inches in'diameter has given good results as to fiexibilityand also as to durability and efliciency,

ice

- which is mounted in a well known manner 9 upon a driven shaft 55 so as to be moved into and out of engagement with the inner clutch member'53 by any well known means (not shown). The driven shaft 55 is mounted in suitable bearings in any well. known manner to be rotated by and coaxial with the crank shaft 52 which carries rigidly secured thereto a driving pulley 56. A

carburetor 57 supplies fuel to the motor and a throttle valve 58 controls the speed of the motor.

For transmitting motion between the motor 31 and either the exhauster 30 or the wheels 12, or both, a horizontal counter shaft 60 is arranged transversely over the platform 11 and is rotatably supported near its end in two fixed bearings 61, 62. Rigidly secured at one end of the counter shaft 60 in alinement with the pulley 56 of the motor is a pulley which is driven from the pulley 56 of the motor by means of a, crossed belt 66. The counter shaft 60 also carries loosely mounted thereon a pulley 67 which is in alinement with and drives the pulley 43 of the exhauster by means of a belt 68. A clutch 69 is arranged. on, the counter shaft to throw the pulley either into or out of operation. For utilizing the engine 31 to propel the flat car along the tracks, a sprocket wheel 70 is loosely mounted upon the countershaft 60 and is arranged to be thrown into or out of operation means of a clutch 71. A sprocket chain 72 extends over and is driven I by the sprocket 70 and extends over and drives a sprocket wheel 73 which is rigidly secured to one of the front wheels 12 of the car or is rigidly secured to the axle upon which the front wheels 12 are mounted. In the latter case of course the front wheels must be rigidly secured to their axle which must be rotatably mounted.

The separator 32 comprises (see particularly Figs. 3 to 9) a casing7 5 which is preferably made of comparatively heavy sheets of mild steel, such as Bessemer steel or open hearth steel, but it may be made of any other suitable material. The casing 75 in the form shown is approximately rectangular and includes two vertical side walls 76, 76, two vertical end walls 77 77, a normally substantially horizontal bottom portion of the casing is extended slightly upwardly and is provided with' a rectangular oblong horizontal top wall 79, and a.

low vertical. front wall 80. This top wall 79 is provided with the hereinbefore mentioned outlet 50 through which the separator 32 communicates with the front end of the flexible pipe 49. Spaced slightly below the top wall 79 and parallel thereto is a screen 81 which covers the entire space .between the side Walls 76 and the transverse walls 77 80. This screen may be of any suitable form but in the construction shown consists of a metal plate perforated .by numerous circular apertures 82 each having a diameter of about inch, the total area of the apertures being preferably about twice the area of the outlet 50.

The front portion of the separator is provided with two oppositely arranged spaced top walls 85, 85 arranged in the same horizontal nlane and spaced below the plane of the top wall 79 of the rear portion of,

the separator. Arranged between and extending upwardly from the nlane of the spaced top walls 85 is arectangular inlet box 99 which'is approximately square in plan view and which is provided centrally in its front vertical wall with a circular inlet 91 through which the box communicates terminating at its smaller end in a hori-.

zontal plane normally spaced slightly above the upper plane of the rails 13 of the track and about 5 feet 6 inches below the horizontal plane 'of the upper limit of the nozzle. This nozzle 95is'preferably made of a hard durable material and may be provided at its smaller end with. a tubular tip 96 of hardened tool steel.

By making thenozzle slightly tapering as shown, it has been found that it facilitates the movement of stones and other material through the pipe increasing the efliciency of the machine. Also by making the nozzle gradually curved longitudinally, movement of the material through the nozzle is also facilitated. The interior surface of the nozzle should be as smooth as possible, even to i the extent of a high polish. The ideal conother materials passing through it and which has its entire inner surface highly reeaera at its larger end of about 7 inches and a total length of about 9 feet 4 inches measured along its'longitudinal axis gives good results in removing from a track bed No. 4

rock ballast which has a maximum diameter of 2-} inches.

The lower end of the inlet box 90 is open and the box communicates freely down-' wardly with the interior of the main portion of the casing. The upper end of th box is closed by a cover 91 removably secured in place by bolts 92 or other suitable means. divided into a lower compartment 93 and an upper compartment 94 by means of a Flat rectangular grating or baffle 110 which -is arranged in a plane perpendicular to the vertical side walls of the box and inclined v at'an angle of about "45 degrees to the horizontal. This grating is held in a fixed position when the cover 91 is closed but is freely removable upwardly from the box "upon the removal of the cover 91, the cover 91 being arranged when closed to press downwardly upon the upper edge of the grating 110 to hold the grating in fixed position. a

The grating 110 as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is preferably made of flat oblong equispaced bars 111 made of manganese steel,

hardened tool steel, or any other suitable material, and is held in fixed relationship by means of two parallel series of spacing sleeves 1120f hard material which are clamped between the bars by means of two parallel bolts 113 which extend through the sleeves and through alined apertures provided therefor in the bars the apertures in] the bars being preferably arranged as close as is practical to the rear longitudinal edges of the bars and much nearer to the rear or upper edges than to the front edges, thus permitting the front edges of the bars to, be worn away to a considerable degree in the'operation of the separator before reaching the apertures in the bars and making it necessary to install a new grate. It has been found in practice that baffle bars 111 which are of an inch thickand 1} inches wide,

. and spaced apart about 1% inches give good results in cleaning railroad. ballast.

The interior of the main ortion of the separator 32 is divided into a ront compartment 120 and a rear compartment 121," by

Manganese steel has 7 The interior of the inlet box 90 is l means of an inclined partition 122 and a:

vertical partition 123. The inclined parti-' 'tion 122 is arranged substantially in the plane of the grating 110 and extends the full width of the interior of the casing 7 5 from the lower edge of the grating downwardly until .it meets the vertical partition 123, which extends the full width of the interior oftthe casing and from thebot-tom wall 78 upwardl in a plane parallel to the end walls 77. The lower portion of the rear of the upper compartment 94 of the inlet box is open and communicates with the upper portion of the rear compartment 121 of the separator through a rearwardly flaring passage formed by a horizontal top wall 125 and tworearwardly diverging vertical side walls 126, the front end of this passage opening throughout its entire extent into the upper compartment 94 of the box 90, and the rear end and lower side of this passage opening throughout their entire areas into the real-compartment 121 of the separator.

F ordischarging material from the front compartment 120, a chute 130 having a fiat bottom wall 131 inclined downwardly and forwardly, is secured to and depending downwardly from the central front portion of the bottom wall 78 of the separator. This chute communicates with the front compartment 120 through a rectangular outlet opening 132 provided there-for in the bottom wall 78 and this opening is controlled by horizontal sliding closure 133. An inclined partition 134 in a plane with the bottom wall- 131 of the chute 130, and two partitions 135 and 136 extending longitudinally of the separator 32 and diverging upwardly.

from the side walls of the opening 132 to the side walls 76, 76,, respectively of the separator serve'to guide into the chute 120 all material collected in the front compartment 120.

For discharging material collected in the rear compartment 121 of the separator, one of the side walls 7 6 of the casing is provided adjacent its lower edge with a rectangular discharge ,opening 140 which is controlled by 'a' vertical flat closure 1 11 arranged to be reciprocated vertically between vertical 5 cleats 1412 fixed upon the outer surface of the side wall 76. An inclined partition 143 extends the full width of the interior of the casing from the lower edge of the discharge opening upwardly to the opposite side wall 76 and meets this-wall in a horizontal line intersecting the line of meeting of the inclined wall 122 and the vertical wall 123,

'andthis inclined partition also'extendsfrom the rear external wall 77 of the casing to the parallel vertical partition-123. This inclined partition 1 13 serves to guide towards the discharge opening 1&0 all material col- -lected in the'rear compartment 121.

For supporting the separator 32 in such a manner that it may be conveniently moved with respect to the fiat car 10 so as to bring the nozzle 95 into any desired operative position, the separator is mounted in a cradle (see particularly Figs. 6 and 7) comprising a normally horizontal rigid rectangular oblong frame including two flat side walls 150, 151" and two flat end walls 152, 153, all of .these walls being normally arranged in vertical planes. Rigidly secured terminally to the two end walls 152, 153 and depending therefrom are two rectangular yokes or straps 154-, 155. The separator 32 is looselysurrounded by the frame 150, 153, and rests upon and is supported by the yokes 154, 155. For pivotally supporting the cradle 150- 155 and the separator 32 carried thereby, two horizontal alined stud bolts 160, 161 extend through and are fixedly clamped to the central portion of the side walls 150 and 151 respectively of the cradle 150155. These. stud bolts are provided adjacent their outer ends with cylindrical journals 162, 162 which engage snugly but rotatively in bearings provided therefor in the lower ends of two vertical arms 165, 166 of a vertical cradle supporting yoke 167 through the upper central portion of which and projecting 'up-, wardly therefrom is rigidly secured an eye 168.

For rotating about a horizontal axis with respect to the yoke 167, the cradle 150-155 and the separator '32 carried thereby, one of the stud bolts 160 is longer than the other 161 and is provided with'a journal 170 whlch engages looselyin a bearing provided therefor axially in a vertical segmental gear 176 which isrigidly secured to thecorresponding side wall 150 of the cradle. This gear 176 is engaged by a pinion 177 which is rigidly secured to the inner end of .a short shaft 178 which extends rotatably through a bearing 179 which extends through and is rigidly secured to the corresponding arm 165' of the cradle supporting yoke 167. The shaft 8 is provided with a squared outer end 180 adapted to receive a hand crank (not shown)- whereby the shaft 17 8 and the pinion 177 carried thereby may be rotated, thus rotate ing the separator 32 in either direction about supporting yoke 167.

For locking the separator'in any desired position of rotation about its horizontal axis of rotation, a vertical rectangular rigid frame comprising two uprights 185, 186 and a transverse member 187 is rigidly secured to the side wall'150 and the transverse mem-- her is provided with an arcuate slot 188 concentric with the segmental gear 176,.and the corresponding arm 165 of the yoke 167 is provided with a locking bolt 189' extending loosely through an opening provided therefor in the arm 165 and engaging loosely in their lower ends to the platform 11.

the iarcuate slot-188 whereby the transverse member 187 may-be clamped fixedly to the 7 frame includes two vertical U-beams 201,

202 arranged upon opposite sides of the front end of. the fiat car and rigidly secured at The upper ends of these vertical beams are con- .nected by a horizontal U-beam 203, and

two inclined stay rods or beams 204co'nnect the upper ends of the vertical beams 201, 202 respectively with the platform 10.,

Two vertically alined bearings 210 and 211 fixedly secured respectively to the platform 10.and to the central portion ofthe horizontal U-beam 203 terminally support a vertical rotary shaft 212'. Projecting horizontally forward from the'upper portion of this shaft 212 is a horizontal I-beam 215 the inner end of which is rigidly secured to the shaft 212 and the outer end of which is held against downward movement by a tie rod. comprising two alined sections 216, 217; connected .iby a turn buckl.e"218, the outer ends of the sections 216, 217 being connected respectively to the outer ends of the I-beam .215 and to the 'upper end of the vertical rotary shaft 212. A wheel 220 rolls upon the upper surface of the I-beam 215 and supports a yoke, 221 depending downwardly therefrom around the lower portion of the Lbeam 215.

This yoke carries a" link 222 which engages through the eye 168 and thus supports the yoke 167' and the cradle 150-155 and the separator 32 carried thereby.

- In the operation of therform ofthe in vention shown in the drawings the fiat car 10 is propelled along the track 13 into any desired position by the motor 31 acting through the clutch 71 and the sprocket 70. During this operation the clutch 69 is left in an inoperative position and consequently the exhauster 30 is not operated When the 'car 10 is thus brought into operative posia horizontal axis w th respect to thecradle tion with the nozzle 95 approximately in the position'to remove the ballast from a desired portion of theroad bed, the clutch 71 is disconnected and a brake (not shown) is applied to hold the flat car 10 in a fixed position. Theclutch 69 is then thrown into operation thus causing the exhauster 30 to become operative and to draw air through the inlet 96 of the nozzle.95. The nozzle 95 is then moved into operative position with its inlet 96 in close proximity to that portion of the road bed from which it is desired to remove the ballast. This movement of the nozzle 95 into operative position is effected by moving the separator32 bodily in such directions as may be desired to accomplish this result, the movement of the separator 32 about a horizontal axis being effected by a suitable rotation ofthe shaft 175 manually by the use of a crank (not shown) the movement of the ,separator 32 longitudinally of the supporting arm 215, and the movement of the separator 32 transversely of the tracks 13 being effected by swingingthe supporting arm 215manually in either direction as may be desired.- As soon as the, inlet 96 of the nozzle 95 has been brought into close proximity to a por tion of the ballast of the road bed, assuming that the speed of the motor 31 has been regulated to produce the necessary vacuum,

this portion of the ballastiis forced by external air pressure upwardly into the nozzle 95 along with any dust or other foreign matter that may be mixed in with the ballast. This mixture of'materials'is thrown inwardly from the nozzle towards the grate 110 and pieces ofballast which are too large to pass through the grate are deflected downwardl by the grate and fall against the inclined partitions 134, 135 and 136 which conduct these larger pieces of material towards the chute 130 and substantially all of the finer pieces of ballast together with all dust and other foreign matter passing through the grate 110 are carried inwardly and upwardly against the lower side of the screen 81 where all pieces of. the ballast which are too large to pass through the openings 82 of the screen are deflected downwardly and fall against the inclined walls 142, 143 leading to the outlet controlled by the vertically sliding closure 1 11. All finer particles of matter pass through the screen 81 and travel through the pipe 49 and into the dust collector 4:8 and are there separated from the incoming air current and the air then passes through the pipe 47 into the exhauster 30 from which it issues upwardly through the outlet 45. When sufficient of the largest size of ballast has been thus collected or segregated in the forward compartment 120 the horizontal closure 133 is withdrawn and this portion of the ballast is allowed to fall through the ehute130 upon the road bed or it may be delivered into any suitable receptacle placed I and thus permit these finer pieces to fall outwardly either upon the road bed or into any suitable receptacle.

lVhen it is desired merely to remove the Cinders, dust, and fine particles of foreign matter from the broken stone ballast of the road bed without removing the broken stone,

the speed of the motor 31 is reduced from that required for lifting the broken stoneto a point where thenozzle will be effective only to remove the cinders, dust and fine particles of foreign matter without disturbing to any great extent the broken stone ballast. Also, if-it should be desired to remove not only the dust and fine particles of foreign'matter, but also some of the finer pieces of-broken stone without disturbing to any great extent the larger pieces of broken stone, this may be accomplished by varying the speed of the motor 31 accordingly.

Thus various grades of material as to size may be removed from the road bed and segregated, without disturbing to any great extent pieces above a given size by varying the speed of the motor 31 accordingly.

When it is desired to use this improved vacuum apparatus for removing only dust and fine particles Or pieces of matter, a flexible nozzle either of the same shape and proportions as shown in the drawings or of uni form internal diameter might be substituted for the rigid nozzle 95 hereinbefore described. This flexible nozzlemight be for instance intheform of a flexible rubber hose normally cylindrical in shape and either armored or unarmorcdand having an internal diameter of 3, 1, or 5 inches or any other suitable dimensions. Various other nozzles or attachments or various shapes and proportions and either of rigid or flexible construction might be selectively substituted for the nozzle 95, shown in the drawings, to adapt the improved vacuum apparatus for various purposes.

While this invention has been described as applied in an apparatus adapted for removal, cleaning and asserting of, ballast from a road bed, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applicationto any specific purpose orp'urposes as itis obvious that the invention may be used not only for operation upon railroad ballast but also for operation upon various other materials or for any other purposes for which it may be found useful.

Also, although only a single form has been shown in which this invention, may be embodied, it'is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific construction illustrated but might be embodied in various forms, and various changes might be made in the construction to adapt the apparatus for various uses and conditions without departing frgmthespirit of this invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a pneumatic device, thecombination with a movable support, of a'separator carried by said support and provided with an air inlet and aniair outlet, and means carried by said support for withdrawing air from said separator, said separator being 7 arranged to be moved in a predetermined horizontal plane with respect to said support.

laterally with respect to said support and also being arranged to swing with respect to said support about an axis extending transversely of said support.

3. In a pneumatic device, the combination with a movable support, of a separator carriedby said support and provided with an air inlet and an air outlet, and means carried by said support for withdrawing a1r from said separator, said separator being arranged to move in a predetermined plane laterally with respect to said support and also being arranged to swing with respect to said support about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said support.

4. In an apparatus for removing and cleaning railroad ballast, the combination with a car adapted to travel along the rails of a railroad, of pneumatic apparatus carried by said-car and including an air conveyer movable with respect to said car and provided with an air inlet adapted to be moved into roximity to the road bed of said railroa and to receiveballast from said road bed, a separator arranged to re.- ceive air and ballast from said conveyer and provided with means for separating said ballast into different grades, and an exhauster arranged to withdraw air from said separator, said conveyer being carried by said separator, and said separator being movable with respect to said car to permit said conveyer to be moved either laterally or in an up and down direction to bring said inlet into proximity of various points of the road bed.

5. In an apparatus for removing and cleaning railroad ballast, the combination .with a car adapted to travel along the rails of a railroad, of pneumatic apparatus carried by said car and including an air .conveyer movable with respect to said car and provided with an air inlet adapted to be moved into proximity to the road bed of said railroad and to receive ballast from said road bed, a separator arranged to receive air and ballast from said conveyer and provided with means for separating said ballast intodifierent grades, an exhauster arranged to withdraw air from said separator, said conveyer being carried by said separator and said separator being movable with respect to said car about'a vertical axis fixed with respect to said car.

6. In an apparatus for removing and cleaning railroad ballast, the combination with a carv adapted to travel along the rails of a railroad, of pneumatic apparatus carried by said'car and including an air conveyer movable with respect to said car and provided with an air inlet adapted to be moved into'proximity to the road bed of said railroad and'to receive ballast from said road bed, a separator arranged to receive air and ballast from said conveyer and provided with means for separating said ballast into different grades, and a blower arranged to withdraw air from said separator, said conveyer being carried by said separator and said separator being movable either about a vertical axis with respect to said car or' arator and having an air inlet and an air outlet communicating with said separator,

and means carried by said support and communicating with said separator for withdrawing air therefrom.

8. A vacuum cleanlng device comprising a support, an exhauster and means for driving thesame mounted upon said support, a separator carriedby said support and movable with respect thereto, a flex-ibleair conveyer connecting said separator and said exhauster, said separator being provided withan air inlet. p

9. A vacuum cleaning device comprising a support, an exhauster carried by said support, an arm carried bysaid support and arranged to swing with respect thereto about an; upwardly extending axis fixed with re spect to said support, a separator carried by said arm and movable longitudinally thereof,

a flexible air conveyer providing communication between said exhauster and said separator.

10. A vacuum cleaning devicecomprising a movable support, an exhauster carried thereby, a substantially horizontal arm carried by said support and arranged to swing about a substantially vertical axis fixed with respect to said support, a separator carried by said arm and movable longitudinally thereof and also movable about a substantially horizontal axis with respect to said arm.

'11. A vacuum cleaning device including a substantially horizontal arm, a cradle carried by said arm and movable longitudinally thereof, and a separator carried by said cradle, said cradle and separator caraxis.

, ballast ried thereby being'rotatable with respect to said arm about a substantially horizontal 12. An apparatus for operating upon of a railroad comprising a car adapted to run along the tracks of a railroad, a vacuum cleaning mechanism carried by the car and including anair conduit provided with an inlet,- said conduit being arranged to be moved in a predetermined path transversely of said tracks and to be moved towards or away fromthe road bed of said tracks. v I- V 13. An apparatus for operating upon ballast. of a railroad comprising a .car

road, a vacuum cleaning mechanism car-e ried by the car and. including 'an air conduit provided with an inlet, said conduit being arranged to be moved in a predetermined path transversely of said tracks and to be moved towards or away from the road bed of said tracks about a substantially horizontal axis. y

14:. In a vacuum device, in combination with supporting means, of a device carried thereby for producing a vacuum, a dust collector carried by said supporting means and held in a substantially stationary position with respect to said device, separating means carried by and movable with respect to said supporting means, and communicating with said vacuum device through said dust collector, an inlet nozzle carried by and communicating with said separator.

15. In a vacuum-device, the combination with supporting means, of a device carried thereby for producing a vacuum, a dust collector carried by said supporting means and held in a substantiall stationary position with respect to said device,

means carried by and movable with respect and communicating said separating Y to said supporting means, and communicatmg with dust collector, an inlet nozzle carried by said separator being arranged to be moved said vacuum device through said' with said separator,

laterally in either direction with respect to supporting means and also to be oscillated about a substantially horizontal axis in either direction.

16. In apparatus for cleaning railroad ballast, the combination with a car adapted for travel along a railway, of an exhauster mounted on said car, a separator connected with said exhauster, a ballast receiving suc- I tiori nozzle carried by said separator and adapted to run along the tracks of a railhaving an air inlet for movement into proximity to the road-bed of the railway and means for supporting the separator on the car with freedom for the nozzle carried thereby into operative relation to selected portions of the road-bed.

17, The apparatusof claim 16in which the separator is provided with means for discharging the cleaned ballast v perable to deliver the same-to different desired sides by the shifting of the separatori'n various directions.

18. The structure of claim 16 in which the separator is mounted in the supporting arm and movable longitudinally thereof said cradle having a rocking bearing for the separator.

In-testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

' NEWTON C. OWEN.

dj ment of the sep rator bOt-h laterally and Vertically to bring 

